Mets celebrate John Franco's night with third straight win over Cardinals

NEW YORK – John Franco’s induction into the Mets’ Hall of Fame on Sunday night fit perfectly with what has turned into a weekend of celebration and great pitching for the Mets.

After the Mets’ all-time saves leader was honored, Jon Niese threw six shutout innings, striking out a career-high 10, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered and drove in a career-high three runs as the Mets stopped St. Louis, 6-1, at Citi Field. The Mets today will try for a four-game sweep when they host the Cardinals at 1:10 p.m. Their last four-game sweep occurred July 25-28, 2011, at Cincinnati.

Niese threw 96 pitches but was lifted, manager Terry Collins said, because he had a problem with an elevated heart rate during the game, after he had run the bases during the fourth inning. Collins indicated Niese would be examined further today, but the left-hander said afterward he was “fine.”

Niese had a similar problem last season in a game at Texas but didn’t experience any difficulties with his heart rate after that.

“I feel good now,” Niese said. “It’s not something that hinders my pitching. I don’t feel any pain. It’s kind of like an adrenaline rush.”

The Mets’ chance of having three straight shutouts, which they last had done May 25-27, 2010, against Philadelphia, ended when reliever Elvin Ramirez allowed a run-scoring single to Adron Chambers with two out in the eighth inning. Ramirez, who was making his major-league debut, had been hit in the leg by a Yadier Molina line drive earlier in the inning, but stayed in the game.

Collins said he expects Ramirez to be OK physically.

St. Louis broke a streak of 26 consecutive scoreless innings with that run, not having scored since the eighth inning of a loss at Atlanta on Wednesday.

The Mets (31-23) have won seven of their past nine games and not only moved to a season-high eight games above .500, they also moved into a virtual three-way tie atop the National League East with Washington and Miami.

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Collins said of being in first place, adding his players “should be very proud of where they are.”

Jake Westbrook (4-5) allowed nine hits and five runs over five-plus innings for the Cardinals, who have lost five consecutive games.

Lucas Duda had an RBI single in the first, Nieuwenhuis had a two-run homer in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the sixth, and Andres Torres had a two-run triple in the sixth to key the Mets’ offense.

Before the game, Franco gave a speech from behind a lectern in short center field. He played for the Mets from 1990-2004 and is the franchise’s career leader in saves (276) and appearances (695).

His 424 overall saves are the most by a lefty in major league history.

Franco, a Brooklyn native and lifelong Mets’ fan who still is employed as an ambassador for the club, likes what he sees from the current team.

“It seems like there’s something special going on here,” Franco said before his induction ceremony. “They’ve got a pretty good mix. Terry is doing a great job. [Pitching coach] Dan Warthen is doing a good job, and as long as they hopefully, stay healthy and get healthy there’s no one in the division that’s head [and shoulders] above them. … Every day it’s someone different doing the job.”

As for his induction, he said, “I’m very honored. … I’m humbled.”

The Cardinals also have been humbled this weekend, but in a much different way.